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3 Truths About the Dark Night of the Soul

A painful and profound reality that shatters illusions.
Chuck DeGroat

As a pastor and therapist, I often encounter people whose lives have been invaded by
despair. Often they approach me, not quite sure what's going on. "Maybe I'm going crazy. Or
perhaps I'm just depressed. Can you help?" Here are three ways Ive found to understand
these dark nights of the soul.

Dark nights provoke deep questions

These seasons of confusion can be a scary experience, for laypeople and pastors alike. The
fifteenth-century Christian writer John of the Cross described this experience; he called it la
noche oscura, or dark night, that difficult invasion of God's astringent grace that opens us to
new realms of spiritual experience. However, it's easy to miss this moment of grace,
especially if we fail to ask deeper questions about what God might be up to.
Consider this scenario: a 38-year-old pastor called me for advice. His church wasn't
growing. His prayer lacked passion. His preaching seemed to fall on deaf ears. Previously
helpful spiritual practices no longer delivered. And growing temptations to look at
pornography or lose himself in Fantasy Football were worrying him and his wife. Feeling
helpless and depressed, he wondered if he'd hit a ministry wall. I told him that I sensed an
extraordinary moment of grace and growth. As I often do, I told him that he needed to talk to
a psychologist to evaluate therapeutic issues and possibly the need for medication.
His story, and countless others like it, raises tough questions about how we should view the
dark night. Is there a difference between depression and the dark night? What practical steps

can we take to move through it and grow spiritually and emotionally?

Dark nights are both spiritual and psychological

St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila envisioned the dark night as a time of spiritual
purging and illumination, but they also understood that psychological dynamics are often at
play in a dark night experience. Though they lacked modern categories and definitions, they
were some of the most adept psychological minds of their day. St. John taught that
melancholia, or depression, would often accompany the dark night. For him, it wasn't an
either/or, but more often a both/and. The spiritual and psychological are interconnected.
Unfortunately, we've failed to learn this valuable lesson. Often psychologists see depression
merely as a neurochemical problem that needs to be fixed. And too often pastors spiritualize
psychological maladies that may require further expertise. On the other side, I find that
many therapists (Christian therapists included) have little insight into employing spiritual
disciplines, or challenging clients to avail themselves of the spiritual benefits of worship, the
liturgy, and the sacraments. This divide would have been completely foreign to St. Teresa or
St. John.

Dark nights provide opportunities for growth

One lesson we can learn from the ancient mystics is that dark nights are not problems, but
opportunities. Grasping this reality moves us beyond "How do we fix this?" to "What might I
learn in this?"
In our North American context, failure and struggle are often viewed as problems, jagged
detours on what is supposed to be the smooth, straight road of life. It's a distinctly Western
phenomenon, but one that subtly impacts our Christian perceptions. Thus, many pastors feel
as if depression, doubt, or distance from God amount to obstacles to ministry, rather than
opportunities for it.
When the young pastor I mentioned above called me, he was worried for himself, for his
family, and for a congregation that expected him to be "on" each week. As I listened, it was
clear that he could benefit from some therapy. He had never explored his family of origin
before, and a few questions showed that his fathers high expectations manifested in selfcriticism and a fear of failure.
That's why I advised him to see a therapist. But was his issue simply a family-of-origin
problem?

St. John of the Cross would say no, and I'd agree. Most psychological issues parallel real
spiritual issues. What we call difficulty or failure, or even a "psychological issue," can
occasion moments of spiritual awakening. I suspect St. John would see this pastor's difficulty
with prayer, his lack of passion, and even his pull toward lust as signs of the dark night. The
purpose of the dark night, of course, is to strip us of our futile attempts to find God on our
own terms and awaken us to a much simpler desire for intimacy with God. I find in my work
that this is exactly what people want. Time and again, pastors tell me that they'd just like to
know God, more purely, more simply, more deeply.
The great nineteenth century preacher Charles Spurgeon suffered from acute depression.
Often he was bedridden and unable to preach, sometimes as much as twice a month.
Nowadays, we may have little compassion for a pastor who battled such frequent and
debilitating bouts of depression. However, Jesus invites the "weary and heavy laden" to find
rest in him. That goes for pastors, too.
Today, these emotional struggles find psychological validation, and we ought to avail
ourselves of therapy, exercise, support groups, and medication when we need it. There is no
shame in finding help in any of these things.
But also consider this moment to be an opportunity to see what Jesus may be up to in your
life, or in the lives of those you counsel. What you might find is that you're being invited into
the glorious purging of the dark night, where the old self and its old loves are shed and
replaced by a new and deeper love for Jesus, for others, and even for youa beloved son or
daughter of a heavenly Father who longs to see you whole.
Chuck DeGroat teaches pastoral care and counseling at Western Theological Seminary in
Holland, Michigan. Reprinted by permission from The Ministry Essentials Bible
(Hendrickson, 2014).
Copyright 2015 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.

Related Topics: Crisis|Depression|Discouragement|Emotions|Mental Health|Pain|Suffering

Posted: February 23, 2015
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